A personal quest to promote the use of wind energy and hydrogen technology in the Great Lakes area of the United States. The Great Lakes area is in a unique position to become an energy exporting region through these and other renewable energy technologies. *Update 2014: Just do it everywhere - Dan*

We'd love to host you for an admissions visit to explore our natural health study programs. But if you're simply curious about our gorgeous forested campus outside Seattle, come have a look at the Bastyr University campus. Here are 10 ways to visit us, just for fun:

1. Tour our medicinal herb garden and reflexology foot path, the first of its kind in North America.

2. Eat a gourmet whole-food lunch in our Dining Commons.

3. Hike the wooded trails beneath giant cedar and fir trees, then rest at a secluded beach on Lake Washington.

Recently approved power purchase agreements (PPAs) by the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) underscore the continuation of several positive trends of late, including utility procurement of wind, the lowering of cost per MWh and the effectiveness of the production tax credit (PTC). On May 15, the MPSC approved two PPAs [read more]

The University of Maine's (UMaine) Advanced Structures and Composites Center and its partners will launch a 1:8 scale model of its VolturnUS offshore wind turbine on May 31, the first grid-connected offshore wind turbine to be deployed off the coast of North America. The approximately 65-foot tall turbine prototype is [read more]

Nebraska lawmakers have passed a bill that features sales tax exemptions to attract wind farms to the state. The bill, L.B.104, provides sales tax exemptions for the purchase of wind turbines, towers and other wind farm components - which neighboring states, such as Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, have used. Sen. [read more]

Jon Wellinghoff, who presided over the U.S. electric grid at a time of tremendous growth for renewable energy, is stepping down as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). He is expected to remain in the position until the Senate confirms his successor. Characterized as a "champion of change" [read more]

Vestas introduced a 57.5-meter blade prototype for its V117-3.3 MW wind turbines. The blades, about 189 feet in length, are the longest ever manufactured in the U.S. The company says its Brighton, Colo.-based plant is the only Vestas factory in the world equipped to produce this blade type. The Colorado [read more]

EDF Energies Nouvelles and wpd offshore will again pool their resources to develop a competitive bid to answer the French government's second offshore wind energy power call. Under the agreement, the companies will pool their expertise and financial resources through a joint company, in which EDF will hold a controlling [read more]

Schneider Power - a subsidiary of Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide, a provider of natural gas storage systems, integration and vehicle system technologies - says it will sell its 10 MW Trout Creek wind farm to "an unrelated third party." According to Quantum, the sale will occur in two phases. [read more]

The Connecticut House of Representatives passed a bill on Tuesday that would allow large-scale hydropower to qualify as a Class I resource under the state's renewable portfolio standard (RPS). According to a Hartford Business report, a companion bill passed the state Senate on May 6, but due to some differences, [read more]

BluEarth Renewables has confirmed that trustees for Alberta's Prairie Rose School District have signed a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) to acquire the output of the developer's 115 MW Bull Creek wind project, located in Provost and Wainwright, Alberta. Marlo Raynolds, BluEarth's vice president of market development, says the PPA [read more]

Industrial gears provider Moventas has opened a condition management center in Chicago, and with it, a condition management services program. According to Moventas, the service agreement allows wind farm owners and operators to install a condition monitoring system without upfront capital investment. Designed to maximize gearbox life through the early [read more]

Coatings manufacturer Hempel has developed an epoxy coating that offers improved curing times for manufacturers of offshore wind towers. Specially formulated for the offshore wind market, the HEMPADUR 47300 epoxy can help offshore wind tower manufacturers drive down production costs and reduce drying times by up to 25%. According to [read more]

Wind turbine manufacturer Gamesa has signed an agreement with local power company Kengen to supply 16 G52 850 kW wind turbines. Turbine delivery and installation for the 13.6 MW Ngong II wind farm, being developed by a subsidiary of Iberdrola, is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2014. [read more]

The above links are all to the e-book versions of these chapbooks.
For paperback versions and to view a listing of all my books as they are released click
HERE: Dan Stafford's Poetic Universe

Site Meter

*NOTE* Before moving the Zephyr to this domain on blogspot, the original blog hosted at Whizzyrds.com/Windblog.html had over 88,000 visits, and was receiving about 25-100 visits per day since May, 2003.
I am moving the old site meter to this space, and it will continue to report hits on the OLD blog site:

I believe I had around 200,000 total hits or so on this blog before Sitemeter went defunct.

Total Pageviews

FeedBurner FeedCount

Zephyrcast Logo

Home of the GL Zephyr-cast!

Standard GL Zephyr Interview Questions

Work in the Environmental industry, especially in the Great Lakes region? Have your say-so on the state of the industry and present your own views on the GL Zephyr!
Interview Questions

About Me

Happily married with two grown children out on their own, I've had extensive life experience in many areas. I consider myself a Progressive, and I strive to make the world a better place for those around me and those who'll follow after us. I am an Air Force Veteran, and I have been a Telecommunications Technician since 1993, with a Vocational Diploma in Aircraft Electronics. My interests are Environmentalism, Science, Social Justice, Poetry and Music, Reading, Karate, and learning Spanish. I'm originally from Southern Wisconsin, and have lived in the Chicago Metro area (Naperville, Plainfield, & Oak Brook) since late 1997. Moved to Temecula, CA January of 2015.

Why I Publish This Blog:

"One thing that many people do not realize is that states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan are sitting on a gold mine of wind energy potential. Or, more properly, next to the mine. The Great Lakes are probably the area in the USA with the third largest inland wind energy potential. Think of just the nickname for Chicago. "The Windy City". Milwaukee is even windier, I can tell you. Why? Because they sit on the edge of a great flat area where there is both a land-water temperaturedifferential, and a large flat expanse of water that is comparably shallow.Oilrigs certainly operate in deeper waters. And you won't have to construct transmission lines all the way from the plains of Montana to put it to use.

The Great Lakes area has an opportunity to get the jump on wind energy's future, if that fact isrecognized and exploited. Wind energy means jobs for construction and maintenance workers, thousandsof them. Wind energy means leasing rights and extra money for family farmers struggling to make it onagriculture alone. In most cases farmers can grow crops right up to the base of a windmill. The landfootprint has a small impact on total farm acreage. Wind energy also means freedom from fluctuatingfuel prices. Wind is free. The cost of a barrel of polluting oil can be raised or lowered drasticallybased on fears or political whims. The potential gains are enormous. We've all seen the flow of goodmanufacturing jobs out of the area. Well, they can't tell the wind to blow in another country so it'smore "convenient" or cheaper to produce. The wind is perfectly happy to whip up opportunities for usright around here. Most of all, because we here in the Great Lakes region have the potential to havea huge positive impact on U.S. energy industry emissions' contribution to global warming."

Followers

Side Bar Links

Dan Stafford - PublisherClick on this pic to e-mail Dan.WE WELCOME ENERGY STORY SUBMISSIONS!
Please note the E-mail link by the title of the webpage. Comments, stories, and article submissions are welcome.
Any accepted submission entitles the submitter to a link on the Journal page included at the bottom of their submitted entry when published to the journal.
The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal makes no claim as to the accuracy of submitted material. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal neither endorses nor opposes opinions expressed in submitted material. Submitter must provide
name, city, and state or country. The Great Lakes Zephyr - Wind Energy & Hydrogen Journal imples no promise to publish all submissions. Adult content will definitely NOT be published.
Submitted material will be screened and appropriate entries published at the owner's discretion.

Safe, healthy, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for farmers, good for you, and just downright good produce:

I strongly encourage those seriously interested in learning about the technology, players, politics, and issues of Wind Energy to spend time browsing the
American Wind Energy Association website. They are the premier industry trade organization and have extensive resources available.
(www.awea.org)